I'll Be Home For Christmas Carol
by PencilGirl92
Summary: With a twist on the classic tale "A Christmas Carol", Mario is visited by three Spirits, but not because he's a Scrooge... he's just not feeling the Christmas Spirit... He will take a trip through his past, present, and future to find his Christmas heart.
1. Chapter 1

"_I__'__ll__be__home__for__Christmas,__bro_." It was just words on an ancient Christmas card. Luigi stared at the words, written in Christmas red. He put it up on the mantle, as he did each and every year.

"Luigi?" Daisy came into the room. "You ready for the Christmas party? You promised you'd go this year."

"I did… didn't I?" He looked up again at the card.

"I'm wearing a new Christmas outfit!" She smiled. He glanced at her. She was wearing elf clothes. A green tunic with yellow buttons, puffy shorts that had elastic right above her knees, which were covered with green and yellow striped stockings. She wore her usual brown boots, but they had golden jingle bells hanging off them. She replaced her crown with a yellow hat with a green cuff. "I got one for you this year, Weegie."

"Great…" Luigi sighed.

"Don't be a Grinch, Luigi. I could've gotten that costume instead!" She had her hands on her hips. "Now hurry up and change!" She left the room, but not without glancing back at him. "Mario's not coming this year… he hasn't for several years before…" she whispered so that Luigi didn't hear as he gazed at his brother's card from the first year he never returned.

…

Mario sat on a block outside. "Merry Christmas to me…" he sighed. "I haven't had one in years." He sighed again. "I'm starting to think there's no such thing as a 'Merry Christmas'."

"Hey! Penguin Suit!" a voice called.

"Huh?" He looked up. "Must be just my imagination." He waddled off the brick and slid down a slope. Suddenly, the slope vanished and he fell into a vortex of snow. "Wahhh!"

"Hahaha!" the voice laughed. "That was so great!" Mario rubbed his bruised nose with his flipper arm and looked up. A small golden mushroom was clapping his hands and laughing. "I think your nose grew three sizes this day! Hahahaha!" He rolled around in the sky.

"Um, excuse me. Who are you?"

"Hahaha! I'm the Spirit of Christmas Past! I come when there's someone lacking Christmas cheer!"

"Oh, please. I'm not Scrooge. I've never said 'Bah, Humbug' and I'm the most selfless guy I know."

"Silly! Christmas spirit isn't just about generosity or what you say. Those things are super important, but you are always good at that stuff. But it seems you lack Christmastime feelings at… well… Christmastime."

"That's because I'm out here saving the world."

"Trust me, the world doesn't need saving right now. And you know that."

"Look, I haven't been home for Christmas for three years. So yeah… What's the point?"

"What do you mean?"

"Christmas doesn't do anyone any good. All it is is Christmas songs and cold snow that no one in their right mind would want… which means Christmas makes everyone go loopy."

"You don't believe that."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. Or at least you didn't always. Don't you recognize where you are, Mario?"

Mario looked around. "Wait… Is this…?" The small house at the end of the road was all the answer he needed. He ran over. "We really are in my past, aren't we?"

"Yep!" the flying mushroom came beside him as they looked in the window. A magnificent tree, decked out in lights and presents. A woman came in, licking a candy cane. A man followed, took the peppermint, and held up a mistletoe twig. "You know this couple, right?"

"Sadly, I barely do. I wish I knew them more. We were so young when they passed."

"There you guys are." The mushroom pointed out.

A toddler Mario and baby Luigi waddled over to their parents. "I don't believe Luigi even remembers them…" Mario lamented as he watched his baby brother tumble to the ground behind his toddler self. The baby immediately began to shriek. Mario cringed and covered his ears. "How did they stand us?"

"You don't remember?" the mushroom tilted his head. "Look!"

The mother immediately lifted the crying child and he began to laugh instead, the tears disappearing from his eyes. The father smiled and chuckled as well. The little toddler Mario smiled and laughed at the joy of his parents. "My mother's touch…" Mario turned away. "Luigi doesn't even remember her face."

"But you remember more, don't you?"

"What's that?"

"Her last words to you… You remember them."

Mario looked back at her, but the scene had vanished. The great tree was gone, and it was just an empty room. "Take care of your brother while we're gone, Mario, son." He spoke as if in a trance. Those words were forever in his mind. Of course, he wouldn't fail those words. He took care of his brother even before they landed safely at their parents' door.

"Time for your next memory…"

Now he was at his house, a familiar sight. He saw his teenaged self run in. "Luigi!" He was carrying a package. "Luigi?"

A young Luigi appeared behind him in the doorway. "Mario! Oh! There you are!"

"Hey, bro!"

"Welcome home for Christmas!"

Mario smiled at the scene, "My first homecoming from my first year at Delfino Med School." He laughed as he watched his brother slip on the snow-covered tile, just as his teenaged self did.

"Watch your step, bro." Young Mario held out his hand.

"You gotta learn to wipe your feet, Mario."

"Haha! Yes, Mr. Housekeeper!" The brothers took a seat at the table and pushed their presents to each other. "Can you guess what I got you?"

"Hm…" Luigi shook his box. He put his ear to it and shook it again. He stared at it for a moment. "I know!"

"What?"

"It's a Tanuki Suit! …or a Frog Suit… Some kind of suit…"

"Haha! You're very close!"

"Well, then… guess yours!"

"Hm…" Mario pressed on his package, poking and shaking it. He smelled it at one point. "I have no idea…"

"Haha!"

"He was always best at guessing the contents of a present…" Mario told the sparkling mushroom. "Or a question-mark block for that matter…"

"Looks like fun!"

"Yeah…"

Luigi opened his present. It was a Penguin Suit. "Wow, this is cool, bro! Where'd you find this?"

"It was in a question-mark block in one of my journeys. It kept me so warm, I had to find one for you."

"Cool!"

Present Mario bit his lip. "What's up?" the mushroom kid asked.

"Nothing…" Mario mumbled.

"Come on, Mario…"

Mario anxiously ripped open his gift. "Wow!" he looked at his gift. It was a snowglobe, made by his brother. It had Mario floating on a Lakitu cloud with Princess Peach. "Aw, your making me blush, bro…" he blushed at the site of him and the princess.

"Hehe! I thought you'd like it!"

The golden mushroom looked at Mario. "He gave you a handmade present each year, didn't he? You could never guess it… and it made him so happy…" He tilted his head. "Why do you look so troubled?"

"It's true… even the years I didn't come home, there was a present waiting for me under the tree… For those past few years…" He lowered his head. "But I didn't get him anything… not even my presence at the party… especially when I promised him…" he faded off.

"Shall we remember another Christmas?"

Mario found himself in the castle. "What the…?" He saw himself, a recent year ago, dressed in a Santa outfit. His brother was dancing with Daisy on the ballroom floor, and next to Peach and himself sat Bowser in a holiday hat. "I remember this!"

"You should!" the Spirit laughed. "It was only a few years ago!"

"When Bowser joined our side. It was his holiday party!" A few koopas with jingle-bell hats ran across the room. "It's the first time we were at peace… for real."

"The first annual Christmas party, right"

"Uh…" Mario turned guilty. "Yeah…"

"The only one you attended—"

"Whatever, Spirit!"

"Was that a hint of guilt in your voice?" the Spirit's face turned serious. "At least you made it to this one, right?" He pointed. "You at least had Christmas spirit here!" Past Mario was spinning the princess around and around. She was dressed in a pink and red Santa-like dress and hat. She laughed as Mario pulled her around the dance floor. "You seem to be enjoying yourself."

"Yeah… but so what?"

"What made you not come to that next party, Mario?"

"Nothing of your concern. Take me home!"

"Well, I for one would like to find out!"

A flash, and Mario was outside a tall castle.

"Is that… Bowser's Castle?" the floating mushroom asked.

"Powser's to be exact. This is the winter he stormed the castle. I defeated him, but since I knew where his castle was, I thought I might as well stay and try to get rid of him quickly. He was the most evil enemy I've ever had to face. He wasn't going to be easy to shoo away for a while like Bowser was."

"So you left before Christmas to find him?"

"Yeah."

Past Mario was running across the snow, whistling to the air. "What on earth are you doing?"

"Calling that parakoopa up there." Penguin Suit Mario pointed as the parakoopa flew down and snatched a letter from Past Mario's hand.

"A letter?"

"A Christmas card for Luigi."

"Do you remember what you wrote on it?"

"No… I don't."

"Then let's find out!"

Just like that, they were at the castle again. Luigi was reaching up to grab the letter from the mailcarrier. He ripped it open and read it. The Spirit and Mario read over his shoulder. _I__'__ll__be__home__for__Christmas,__bro._ Luigi grinned widely and ran into the castle, where they were setting up for the Christmas ball.

"You never got home though…" the Spirit noted.

Mario bit his lip as the scene before him skipped ahead and he saw his brother standing out in the cold, in front of his own house, waiting for his brother. He had only his green-striped scarf and green L-labeled Santa hat with the jingle bells on the end, along with his green coat and brown boots keeping him warm. He coughed and sneezed, but stayed outside.

"He's gonna catch pneumonia!" Mario ran up to him. "Luigi get inside!"

"He can't hear you, Mario. This already happened, silly."

"Well what happened to him? How long did he wait for me?"

Daisy ran over, in a yellow fur dress. "Luigi! Are you crazy? How long have you been out here?"

"Ah-CHOO!" the man sniffed. "I-I don't know… s-s-since n-n-n-n-noon?"

"Noon?" Daisy looked up at the clock tower in the city. She could barely read it, but knew it said 4:36. "You are coming inside, right now!" She pushed him in the house. "_If_ Mario comes, he can knock on the door!"

"Wait…" Mario started. "I remember what happened when I came back mid-January…" He looked up at the Spirit. "Daisy treated me very harshly, and there was still remnants of medicine lying around. Luigi _did_ get sick!" He hurried to the window, but the scene disappeared before him. "Wait! Spirit! I'm not done yet!"

"You didn't wish to return home, so I'll show you no more… except the fact that it happened again… and again… and again."

"The same thing?"

"But you continued to return later and later… so the emotion may have died down from Daisy, and much was as it normally is." The Spirit sighed. "But at least you made no more promises to your brother that you would make it home."

"Spirit… What are you implying?"

"You know in your heart what I am saying to you…"

Mario knew. He just didn't want to admit it to himself. He had let his brother down. Especially that first year… and time after time again. "Spirit…" but the mushroom was gone. Mario was back on his brick. He looked around. Could it have all been a dream?


	2. Chapter 2

Luigi looked in the mirror and frowned. Any other time he would have laughed at how ridiculous he looked, but he just wasn't in the mood today. Daisy came in and giggled. His outfit was darker green than his usual outfit. The hat had a yellow band around it and a mistletoe branch sticking out of it. His stockings were yellow and green striped, like Daisy's. He had curly-toed brown shoes that had golden jingle bells at the top. His buttons were gold and so were the cuffs of his sleeves. He tilted his head.

"You look amazing, Weegie!" She gave him a peck on the cheek. He blushed as he always did when she kissed him, and then he finally smiled. "This is going to be the best Christmas party ever!"

…

The air was getting bitter cold, and Mario's nose was turning blue, almost matching his Penguin Suit, which kept the rest of him warm. Suddenly, a shadow covered him. He turned around, and his eyes grew wide. "Mamma Mia!"

"Yeah, I get that a lot." The Spirit before him was a huge white Yoshi with green spikes and eyes, green boots, and a green stomach. His nose was big enough that Mario could stand on it with adequate room. "I'm the Spirit of Christmas Presents! …erm… I mean Christmas _Present_."

"Yeah, I figured as much." Mario stood up. "So… where are you going to take me, Spirit?"

The Yoshi stuck out his tongue, grabbed him, and before Mario knew it, he was swallowed whole. He pushed at his prison until it cracked. The green egg with white dots opened up, and Mario sat inside, watching the scene before him. It was the annual Christmas party. "Looks just the same as the first year…" he noted to himself. He saw Peach in her red cape with white fur next to the throne, talking with Toad and Toadette, who each wore antlers.

The mushroom kids looked happy as ever, and jumped around, talking excitedly about something. Mario walked closer to them, knowing they wouldn't see him, and listened in. "Hahaha!" Toadette was laughing. "Just like Scrooge!"

Peach giggled a little. "I guess I've gotten used to it," she patted the girl on the head. "We can't expect too much from him… we already expect _so_ much…"

"Well, whatever you think, Peach!" Daisy came into the conversation. "I'm sick of seeing what he constantly does to Luigi!" She pouted. "Letting him down every Christmas! I say, I'm really gonna strangle him next I see him!"

"Daisy… Don't look at the past too much, you'll only get angrier. Look now at what's happening…" she nodded towards the dance area, where Luigi was looking around for Daisy. "Why don't you two dance? You'll be the centerpiece of this party if you do!"

"You know it!" Daisy winked and ran off.

"Wow… she really hates you, doesn't she?" the giant Yoshi's voice came from above him.

"Yeah, maybe…" Mario shrugged. "She's just got a hot temper."

"So you say she's overblowing it? You don't agree with her at all?"

Mario didn't answer. He had learned his lesson from the last Spirit. He did let Luigi down. But right now, he seemed happy, so who was he to think that his presence would make a difference? "Well, Spirit, all you're showing me is happiness. They're forgetting all their cares, even about me. So what's the point?"

"You really think so, huh? Well, Christmas is certainly a time of peace. It's the one night a year that can truly be a Silent Night. But you should learn from what happens past that outward expression and inward joy. Joy doesn't mean happiness, Mario."

"Well, guys! It's time for storytelling!" Daisy shouted after the last song.

"What?" Luigi turned to her. "Oh, no…"

"Come on, Master Luigi!" Toad and Toadette begged.

Mario chuckled. "They're the only ones who call him that…"

Luigi smiled. "Fine, a story."

"Yippee!" all the mushroom children cheered. Luigi sat by the grand Christmas tree at the side.

"Once upon a long time ago, there was a star, just as there is atop this tree…" he gestured to it. "It took its place above a small town, full of people and activity, just like Mushroom Kingdom. But this place was so full, that they couldn't even provide room for a pregnant girl and her husband. They wandered around the small town until they found a small stable. The animals were kind enough to let them use their feeding box, their manger, to place the newborn baby. Right up above them that bright star shown, almost as bright as the morning star, the sun. People came from miles around to see the baby boy in the manger, as he was the greatest gift the earth would ever receive."

Mario smiled. "He is a wonderful storyteller…"

"Yes, but what he prides himself most of all in are stories of you."

Mario fell silent again. "Really, Spirit?"

"You bet."

"Now… what you may not have heard in that story is the visitation of the great hero, Mario!" The mushroom kids laughed.

Daisy growled, "Don't include that Scrooge in your story, Luigi!"

"Aw, come on, Daisy. It's a Christmas story! Everyone is invited to the manger."

"Fine… for Christmas's sake…" She sat and pouted in the corner as Luigi continued.

"Now, Mario was far away, beating Bowser for the hundredth time."

"Hey!" Bowser roared from the back.

"It's true, Bowser!" Luigi laughed. "Then, he saw that star in the distance. 'Mamma Mia!' he thought to himself. 'That star will make me invincible for decades!' So he went to grab it."

"Is that when he had his Penguin adventure?" Toad asked.

"Oh yeah! The Penguin adventure!" Toadette cheered.

"Yes it is!" Luigi winked. "Now, as you know… It was very cold that day, so Mario had to find a good Penguin Suit. He ran through, skating on the ice, using koopa shells like hockey pucks. That's when he came across a huge question mark block. Unsure of what would come from it, he kicked a koopa shell at it. When it opened, ten bomb-ombs came out of it!"

"Wait… I know what he's telling…" Mario looked up. "That's a true story! Told more eloquently than it happened, but it's true!"

"Well of course it is!" the Spirit said matter-of-factly. "He only tells true stories of you. He doesn't feel that he can quite create a story worthy of your heroism."

Mario looked again at his brother. "Well, he's making up the Christmas story… a little…"

"That's just Holiday flair. Something he rarely does, if at all. But as he said, everyone receives the gift in the manger. Isn't he right?"

Luigi was leaning into the kids now, "Luckily, they weren't lit, so Mario tried his best to creep around them. That's when a fireball koopa ignited one of them. That means that they could all explode together!"

"Oh no!" the children all gasped.

"That's when Mario grabbed that bomb-omb and ran past the big block, past the icy hills and snow pits. Then he threw it out, hitting a strong block way up above him with perfect timing. Out fell a Penguin Suit, which he happily donned."

"Yay!"

Mario chuckled. "They're really into it, aren't they?"

Luigi sat back. "So, Mario was snug and warm in the blue suit, waddling toward that bright shining star. He made it to the town, slid through the streets, and came across the stable. 'Mamma Mia!' he gasped. The star wasn't a power up. It was signaling the presence of a Baby King, and Mario knew this now. So he knelt at the manger, all filled with hay and that smiling Babe. He took off his Penguin Suit and wrapped the poor Child that lay in swaddling clothes in the warmth of the suit. And that's how the story ends." He smiled, stood, and looked up at the star atop the tree again. "Buon Natale!"

Mario was suddenly yanked back by a sloppy, wet force. In darkness again, he thought awhile about what he had just witnessed. "Buon Natale, Luigi, and all of you. I hope you all may have a Merry Christmas… with or without me…"

His shell cracked open again, and he was back where he began. "Spirit… I still don't get it… I may never spend another Christmas with my brother, but so what?" He looked around. "Spirit?" The egg had disappeared, and he sat on his brick again. "So what…?" he repeated.


	3. Chapter 3

The day was getting darker, the air was getting chiller. It seemed an omen, as Mario knew what the next spirit usually was… "M-Mamma Mia… I don't like the anticipation…" He walked slowly across the icy path as he waited for the last spirit. Darkness came around him. He turned and saw an average shy guy, only he was wearing a black cloak instead of a green or red or even a yellow one. "The Spirit of the Future…" Mario followed where he led. "I expect I'm to die alone? That's how the story always goes."

The shy guy made not a sound as he led Mario down the icy paths he had already treaded. "I don't understand… this is my usual Christmas…" He saw himself in the distance, just the same as always. "Nothing changes? I'm alive? Spirit! Why are you showing me myself contented?" For his future self was content, or at least as much as usual. There was nothing different about the scene. "Spirit!"

Darkness again, then the castle scene. Daisy was pacing around the ballroom. There were no decorations, no costumes, no music. Just Daisy. Soon, she was joined by the mushroom children. "Any news?" Toadette asked.

Daisy shook her head. "I'm afraid he'll never find his brother… and then what?"

Peach was next to enter. "He _will_ find him. Luigi will bring Mario home for Christmas this year."

"I don't know why he bothers. Last year, we had so much fun. And it was without him!"

"Yes, but he didn't come back until the middle of the year! At this rate, he will leave one Christmas and not return until the next!"

Mario was getting annoyed, "Okay, I get it… they hate that I'm not there. But I've got things to do, Spirit!" He looked around. "Spirit?" A chill wind, and more darkness, then he saw Powser. "What? Powser? What's he doing back?" The great beast, larger and fiercer than his son, Bowser, was walking toward the unseen Mario, through him, sending a shiver through him, and away toward future Mario. "Well… he's gonna get it when he gets to me," Mario said as he watched him walk off. He turned back to from where he came and gasped. "No!"

His brother was lying in the cold of the snow, wearing the Penguin Suit he had treasured too much to wear since that Christmas years ago. He had worn it to find his brother. But now it was slashed open, ripped to shreds by the mighty claws of Powser, and his brother was equally damaged.

"Luigi!" Mario shouted. But of course, no one could hear. Not even the shy guy seemed to be in sight. "Spirit! Help him!"

Not a sound or a soul except the chill winter air. Time fast forwarded, and he saw the sun set over his brother's lifeless body. Daisy appeared on the horizon and ran to him, tears freezing on her cheek. She cried over him. It all was a blur now to Mario. "Curse you, Mario!" Daisy sobbed. He looked up at her. She was looking up and seemed to look straight at him. "Mario! Don't you see he needed you at home! I hate you, Mario! Look what you've done!" Her eyes shot right through him, but he felt more than that. She was staring right at him, and he was frozen in place.

"Luigi…" he whispered.

"It was never about your heroics, you idiot…" Daisy looked back down at Luigi. "It was about your love… We're family… We spend time with each other… You don't go looking for adventure… You go as Luigi did… look for the ones you love." Daisy burst into more tears, something that made Mario feel worse. After all, Daisy barely ever cried, if at all. "Oh, Luigi! Why waste your life on such a jerk?" She sniffled. "I hope he never comes back… and if he does… if… he… does…" Darkness came around the mourner, blinding Mario from the rest.

He finally understood. This lesson wasn't about him. It was about the people he left behind. Luigi, most of all. _I__'__ll__be__home__for__Christmas_… the words echoed in his head. The words he had written the first time he did not come. Daisy had every right to be furious with him, he knew. Peach gave him too much credit for being a hero and felt they could expect no more. Luigi was too kind to say anything against him, but Mario knew that deep in his heart, he was probably hurt.

"Spirit… I finally understand…" He looked around at the darkness. "Spirits?" He looked around again, seeming to float in a dark void. "That was from the future, wasn't it? Which means I can change it! I can come home now!" Still darkness. "Spirits! Hear me! I've learned my lesson! Let me go home!" Just darkness.


	4. Chapter 4

"Buon Natale," Luigi said, looking at that bright star.

"Great story, Master Luigi!" Toadette grinned.

"I loved it!" Toad cheered.

"Me too. It was lovely," Peach added.

"Hmph…" Daisy pouted.

"Come on, Daisy," Luigi smirked. She still pouted. He pulled the mistletoe from his hat and raised it above her. She grinned a sly grin and planted a tiny kiss on his nose, immediately causing his blush. She giggled. "That's better."

"Ho! Ho! Ho!" a Santa burst through the castle doors.

"Santa?" Luigi looked at Peach.

"Funny… I didn't order a Santa this year…"

"Well…" the Santa said, walking towards them, "You look so much like Mrs. Claus, you have to have a Santa," he removed the beard and uncovered his own bushy mustache, "…don't you?"

"Mario!" Peach gave him a hug. "What a Merry Christmas!"

"Bro… sorry I made my 'home for Christmas' promise so late…" Mario shuffled over to his brother.

"I'm just glad to see you!" Luigi wrapped him in a bear hug.

"Hmph!" Daisy growled. "I oughta rip your real mustache right off with your fake beard!"

"Daisy…" Luigi tried to calm her.

"And you'd have every right to…" Mario admitted. "But I'm quite fond of my 'stache… could you find a different way to express your disappointment?"

Daisy crossed her arms, but seeing Luigi so happy with his brother, she couldn't stay mad for long.

"Buon Natale, everyone!" Mario cheered.

"Yay! Merry Christmas!" the mushroom kids jumped up and down.

The orchestra began a new song, and Mario bowed to Peach. "Shall we dance?"

He led the princess out to the floor. He may not have been as good as Luigi, or as graceful for that matter, but he guided her along the ballroom with a new Christmas vigor. "I promise… I'll always be home, unless you guys lead me elsewhere. Home is all of you… not needless adventure."

"And we'll always be your home, Mario." Peach kissed him as they circled beneath the mistletoe.

And from that year on, Mario was always 'home' for Christmas.

_Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you have a wonderful Holiday! Don't forget the gift of the baby, whom everyone receives. "For to us a child is born. To us a Son is given." And, as Luigi said, everyone is invited to his manger!_


End file.
